Rapper 50 Cent Charged with Kicking ex-Girlfriend

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rapper and actor 50 Cent was charged this week with attacking his ex-girlfriend and trashing her Los Angeles condo, city attorney Mike Feuer said Wednesday.

The 37-year-old "In da Club" singer, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, was charged with domestic violence and four counts of vandalism in papers filed Monday. If convicted, he faces up to five years in jail and $46,000 in fines.

A representative for Jackson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Jackson had already left when officers arrived June 23 at a Toluca Lake condo belonging to a woman who had a baby with him, police said.

During an argument, the woman told police, Jackson began destroying her property before she locked herself into her bedroom. The woman said Jackson kicked open the bedroom door and kicked her, causing injury.

Police said they estimated about $7,100 in damage to the woman's home. They observed many broken items in the ransacked and clothes-strewn condo, including chandeliers, furniture and a television.

The woman told police she had been in a three-year relationship with Jackson.

"Regardless of perceived celebrity or notoriety, domestic violence is a serious crime and alleged perpetrators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law by this office," Feuer said.

The Queens-reared rapper has referenced drug-dealing and violence in many songs, and is known for having survived nine gunshots in an attempted assassination.

Jackson has also worked as an actor in recent years. He starred in an autobiographical account of his life as a drug dealer in "Get Rich or Die Tryin'."
Jackson is due for arraignment July 22.